Oilers put Ducks in hole with road win
Falling in Game 1 on home ice left the Anaheim Ducks feeling desperate in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals and they responded by outplaying the Edmonton Oilers.
It didn’t matter. The team with the commanding lead in the best-of-7 series has the edge in goal.
Cam Talbot stonewalled the Ducks time and time again Friday night and it was his 39-save performance that was the difference in the Oilers’ 2-1 win at Honda Center that has them up two games and heading home to a raucous orange-clad Rogers Place for Game 3 on Sunday night.
Talbot was strong all night and often stellar. Some of his best work came in an opening period where the Oilers grabbed the lead on the Ducks and goalie John Gibson despite putting only three shots on goal. And when the Ducks did get pucks by him, they found an unkind bounce of the iron.
Good fortune did follow Talbot and the Oilers in the third. Needing the tying score, Patrick Eaves’s redirection got through but hit the post and Edmonton’s Adam Larsson cleared the puck away. Cam Fowler’s blur of a point shot hit squarely off the opposite post.
And when it was required, Talbot made the big save. Jakob Silfverberg had a good look at a wraparound attempt from behind Edmonton’s net, but the one-time Rangers backup to Henrik Lundqvist and unquestioned Oilers’ No. 1 was there to shut the door.
The scenario started to resemble those of past playoff failures, where the Ducks had to deal with 2-0 deficits after losing home games in the second round against the Los Angeles Kings and in last season’s opening round against Nashville.
Ominous signs were presented early. Just 65 seconds into the contest, Gibson couldn’t stop a point shot from Andrej Sekera that he appeared to have a clear view of and the Oilers had a quick 1-0 lead.
The Ducks worked and were determined but also mixed in plenty of sloppiness with the puck. Passes rarely connected and shots, particularly coming from the right circle, were fired wide and allowed Edmonton to quickly get the puck out of its zone.
Even though 13 of their 25 shot attempts didn’t make it to Talbot, the Ducks still controlled possession and made him work. Talbot, who played in a NHL-high 73 games this season, showed why he has been the Oilers’ backbone with three critical saves.
(Orange County Register/TNS)
Blues 3, Predators 2
Vladimir Tarasenko scored a power-play goal late in the first period and then connected for the game-winner with 3:51 left in the third period to lift St. Louis over Nashville.
The loss was the first in the playoffs for the Predators this season and left the second-round series tied at one game apiece heading into Game 3 on Sunday in Nashville.
James Neal and Ryan Ellis scored to give the Predators a 2-1 lead. The Blues tied the game at 2 on a goal by Jori Lehtera at 7:39 of the third period before Tarasenko took over. Jaden Schwartz started the play with a pass that deflected off the skate of Joel Edmundson directly onto Tarasenko’s stick, and he blasted a shot past goalie Pekka Rinne.